Hey all .. I've been having some issues in trying to encode and burn movies. I have a bunch on AVI films, some in Divx, some n Xvid. Not that it really matters, cuz all I want to do is encode them in either MPEG to burn to VCD or SVCD, or burn to DVD. Whichever.. I have both cdrs and dvds, so no biggie. The problem is that whenever I try and encode, say, a 700mb AVI file, the mpeg file when finished, is always WAY larger than what I can fit onto a disc. It works with either encoding.. so, say, if I try and encode that 700mb file into MPEG2 to fit on a vcd or svcd, it's always larger than 700mb.. so obviously I can't fit it onto a cdr, and it hasn't been converted to any vobs, so I can't just throw it onto a dvd-r. Likewise, when I try to encode it to dvd, the frile turns out to be like, 9.4gbs.. and again, I can't throw that onto a dvd-r.. so once again I'm stuck. I've been using several programs, all with the same outcome. Am I doing something wrong here? Any help is appreciated!!
You need to understand some basic concepts. XviD/Divx is a highly compressed format, and probably in a smallish aspect ratio. Mpeg-2 is not nearly as compressed, thus it requires more space, for the same amount of running time. Done right, (with the right software) you can get between 1 and 12 hours per DVDR, or about 80 minutes per CDR. It would help to know what programs you have tried (I suspect mostly all-in-one tools), and what settings you used, in the various programs. What's your favourite, and why? Which one did you want, VCD, SVCD, or DVD? Which program gave you the best results? What is the aspect ratio and running time of ONE of your example avi's? What type of audio track does it have? Post back with some specifics, and we'll be able to recommend the next step you should take, or what software to use.
A suggestion: study, study, study, study, study... You can start with the FAQ http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/196299 , go on with the guides http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/ an so on... And on the glossary: http://www.afterdawn.com/glossary/ learn the meaning of : VCD, SVCD, KVCD, DTS, MPV, AC3, AVI, codec, DivX, Xvid, MPEG, Multiplexing, Demultiplexing, VOB, ASF, IFO, DVD-5, DVD-9...... As usually it happens, experience is the best weapon. And remember: garbage IN = garbage OUT. A common mistake is taking a low-quality input movie (e.g. a few hundreds megabytes WMV, a <600 MB AVI or a 388x240 mpeg) and making with it a 4.7 GB DVD mpeg after hours of encoding... For this reason I hate this forum's name 'AVI to DVD'; I would prefere 'AVI to MPEG?, instead. A DVD player can read DVD [720x480/576], (almost 100% of the players) VCD [352x240/388]and (some player) SVCD [480x480/576]. If you start with a lame WMV 200 MB large for 1h movie, don't expect a better result if you make a DVD , with respact a VCD. More: movies-making is often done in 2 steps: 1) encoding a proper movie (in mpeg form: MPEG-1 for VCD MPEG-2 for SVCD and DVD). 2) authoring: the process which makes mpeg --> media (or media image (.ISO or .cue/.bin), which you'll buen later on a CD-R/DVD-R. Step 1) is obviously only if if you have an AVI, a WMV.. or if the MPEG's system doesn't match yours (the most common: PAL and NTSC). And remember: encoding a VCD movie takes few hours, encoding a more complex movie takes from 3 to 10 times that time...
What determines the Size of the File after encodeing to Mpeg-2 is the Length of the Movie and the Bitrate you use to encode it... I suggest you get a Bitrate Calculator which will tell you What Bitrate you should use Baced on the Length of the Movie so it fits on a DVD-R....
Hey all.. thank you for your responses to my queery. First off, the programs that I've used asre as follows: To encode: MainConcept MPEG Encoder, Avi2DVD, as well as some other freeware ones. I've set them up according to the proper specs. I've looked at most of the stickies and tutorials on here, but again, I haven't had much luck, and I've followed to the word each step laid out.. particularily using the avi2dvd tool. Basically what I'm trying to do is encode a 700mb video into mpeg2 to burn to vcd. Doesn't have to be great quality or anything. This particular file specs are as follows: StreamType & AV Interleave: OpenDML AVI Video: DivX 5.0 Audio: MPEG-1 Layer 3 - Bitrate: 125 kb/s (62/ch, stereo)48000k
In VCD Format you can only Fit a Maximum of 80 minutes of Video on a Single 700mb CD-R so in Most Cases you will have to Put most movies on at least 2 CD-R"s and there is no way arround it as the VCD Standard is Set in Stone which means if you want your Mpeg-1 file to be 100% VCD Compliant then you can not Change the Encodeing settings from the Default VCD Settings.... You can Make a NON-Standard VCD useing say a Lower Audio Bitrate which will allow you to maybe Fit another 10 minutes on a Disk or you could use Tmpgenc to encode but useing the KVCD Templates which will allow you to fit more Video on a CD-R but I have Had Problems with Authoring KVCD files to CD-R because because they are Not VCD Compliant Many programs like Nero will not burn them to CD-R unless you turn of the VCD Complinacy and Burn them anyways.... So Basicly if your Movie is over 80 minutes you will have to use 2 CD-R"s and if you have to use 2 CD-R"s you might as well make a SVCD which has much better quality Or better yet encodeing them to Mpeg-2/DVD and only use One Disk which is Cheaper than useing 2 CD-R"s and will produce better quality without the Playback problems associated with VCD/SVCD"s..... Cheers
Fair enough.. so then to try and make an svcd, or dvd, what should I do? I'm still having the same problems doing this as well. I'll try and encode than file into vobs, and it will encode it to 9.4gbs. I've never had problems with doing this before ;/ Considering this video was on dvd before, how can I get it back on there?
Well with SVCD you can Fit from 40 to 60 Minutes on a 700mb CD-R depending on the Bitrate you use... If you use a SVCD Video Bitrate of 1500kbs and an audio Bitrate of 128kbs you will Fit about 60 minutes on a CD-R.... If you use a SVCD video Bitrate of 2000kbs and an audio Bitrate of 128kbs you can fit 45 minutes on a CD-R with better quality ..... If you use the Bitrate settings there is absolutly no way your Files will end up being 8.5gb .... After you have encoded your Movie the File will probably be too big to fit on a CD-R so you will have to cut the Movie in Half so you can Burn it to 2 CD-R"s... You can use the Mpeg editor in "Tmpgenc Pluss" or you can use an editor like "Womble Mpeg2VCR" to cut your SVCD/Mpeg-2 File into Parts that will fit on a CD-R... Also remember that you can Fit up to allmost 800mb of SVCD Data on a 700mb CD-R because VCD/SVCD"s do not have any Error Correction data of which about 100mb of the Disk space is reserved for error correction on most Data CD"s and that is why you can fit allmost 100mb more on a CD-R when in VCD/SVCD mode... But because there is no Error correction you should Burn your VCD/SVCD disks at the Lowest speed Possible as to avoid any Burn errors.... Cheers
Some great info there.. thank you very much minion! I'll give it a try and see what happens, and will post back here.
